Palace
by Kait Erven
Summary: Charlie Weasley's back and heart broken, will Allie fix him? REVISED***
1. Chapter 1

"Dear, your clothes are truly atrocious and _full _of holes. You need to buy some new ones or at least get these ones patched up a bit…" mum said, holding up a work shirt that was particularly full of holes. I shrugged, it wasn't like I could control when the dragons had their bad days. Mum cleared her throat and began tapping her foot on the wooden floor of the kitchen, clearly she was becoming irritated.

"I can just get these ones fixed, mum," I shrugged and mum smiled, her facial expression softening as she placed a weathered hand on my shoulder.

"You need to find yourself again, Charlie… I _know_ that wretched girl broke your heart but you need to get it together and carry on with your life."

"But the thing is mum, I don't want to get over it… I don't think I _can_ get over it." I looked around awkwardly for a few seconds and then smiled, "So, where's the best shop to get these fixed at?" I changed the subject back to my ripped and worn clothes; I knew this would distract her from my recent break up. I chuckled as she shifted through my clothes, picking out all of the articles that needed to be repaired and shoving them into my arms.

"There's a shop in Diagon Alley called _Allison's Closet, _go there, she's a talented seamstress and she gets things fixed for a decent price." Mum turned around and exited the room, I shook my head and apparated to Diagon Alley with the pile of my singed clothing in tow.

* * *

I sighed as I unlocked and entered my shop, I lit the chandelier in the small foyer and watched as it illuminated the whole place with a pretty, flickering light that danced on the walls and bounced off the many mirrors that adorned the walls. I had opened the shop just shy of five weeks ago and business was booming but I wished I could take a break from it all. I never imagined that owning my own shop would be this strenuous and demanding. I was supposed to have Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off but more times than not I found myself working straight through those days just to get all of the work done. My mother had always said that I shouldn't take on something so big so early on in my life and I was now feeling like she was more right than I could have ever imagined. I mean, how much could a twenty-four year old take?

Without wasting any more time than necessary, I began bustling around the shop making sure everything was in its right place and every rack and shelf was stocked as full as it could be. I was beginning to think that maybe I should have hired help, it definitely would be an asset that would pay for itself in weeks and months to come. I had just finished restocking the women's casual robes when the bell attached to the front door alerted me of my first customer of the day. I emerged from behind the rack to see a young man, about my age with his arms full of tattered and burnt clothing.

"Oh, my goodness! Please, just set them on the front counter!" I exclaimed, seeing the large pile of material teetering dangerously close to falling over and spilling onto the floor. I rushed over and immediately began to examine a pair of pants that had been singed beyond any type of repair. I cocked my eyebrow at him, holding out the worn out pants,

"I know, they're in a right mess" he admitted, his freckled cheeks blushing ever so slightly. I chuckled as I held up a particularly crispy shirt,

"Well, you aren't lying about that one, sir. It looks as if I have my work cut out for me" I commented as I dumped the lot of clothes into the trash and took out my tape measure. He looked apprehensive and I unrolled the small tape measure and put it around my neck like a necklace, leading him back to the 360 degree mirror near the dressing rooms.

"Oh, come now, I promise I won't bite _or _poke" and set the pack of pins down on the stool beside the mirror. He broke into a boyish smile that would make even the strongest of women swoon. I blushed and looped the tape measure around his thickly muscled waist, writing his measurements down on a piece of paper and tacking it to the corkboard on the wall.

"So you work in Romania, huh?" I asked, trying to make conversation to distract myself from his very admirable body. "I bet you're a dragon keeper… I've always admired your line of work, sir" I walked to the back room and browsed the material I had on stock, looking for one material in particular that should hold up to the task at hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the man had cautiously lowered himself into one of the poufs that I had situated in front of the mirror for family members to sit on whilst they were waiting.

"How'd you know?" he asked, getting right back up and examining the eccentric colored women's dress robes, stopping to closely examine a hot pink sparkly dress robe in horror. I shrugged and pulled out my dragonhide material, it was dyed a deep purple color that would look quite good with his reddish orange hair.

"Lucky guess?" I laughed and walked out of the back room, "Nah, my uncle _used_ to work in Romania… Well, he died; obviously"

"What was his name?" he asked, frowning slightly in thought,

"Jared Ostman"

"No way! Wow, he was a great guy, hard worker and everything. He lived for that damn job, he died honorably. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to get to know him very well because the Hungarian Horntail got to him first." The man shook his head and watched as I closely examined the material for any imperfections. Once I determined that the material would hold up to the job, I marked the material with all of the measurements and such.

"I'm sorry, what was your name again…? I'm not sure I caught it…" I looked up from my work and tucked a stray piece of auburn hair behind my ear.

"Charlie Weasley, you're Allison, I assume?" I nodded and then met his gaze,

"You can call me Allie, Allie Easton" I smiled, offering my hand "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Weasley" I turned back to my work, making sure everything was spot on and handling everything with care not only because I wanted it perfect for this gorgeous human being but because dragonhide was bloody expensive.

As I was cutting the last bit of material, I noticed that Charlie was making his way around to some of my most eccentric pieces in the shop. Well, what could I say? I had to make clothes that fit everyones needs… and I mean _everybody_, and there were some _weird_ people out there.

"I take it sparkles and animal print are your favorite?" he asked, pulling an especially poufy dress from the rack labeled "_Women's - Formal_". I laughed and nodded, setting down my scissors; I walked over to him and pulled a dress out of the back of the rack. The dress was multicolored and sparkled like crazy on the top; there was a deep purple sash separating the top from the bottom. The bottom was adorned with zebra and cheetah print mesh material that was equally as sparkly as the top.

"I wore something similar to this for a dance when I was in school, let's just say I started a trend" I winked and tucked the dress back into the rack with the other ones. Charlie chuckled and then nodded,

"Strangely enough, I could see you wearing something like that" I burst out laughing and blush crept across my face.

"Well, Mr. Weasley, I would say you should come back tomorrow, this order is going to take a while," I said as we walked away from the dresses and back towards the main counter. He smiled and leaned casually against the granite surface,

"How much?" He asked, eyeing the dragon hide material that I had placed on the back counter. I sighed and wrote him up a receipt,

"Here ya go, now if you can't pay that, let me know and we'll work something out, I don't have a problem lowering the price" I winked and watched as he walked out of the shop, I noticed that he looked back and waved before disapparating out of Diagon Alley.

* * *

I landed in the kitchen of the Burrow and was greeted by the wonderful, mouthwatering smell of onion soup and fresh biscuits. Everyone was already gathered in the kitchen, waiting for me to arrive home.

"Charlie! Just in time, really. How was it? I don't see any fixed clothes… Was she not there?" mum interrogated me as I took my seat next to Ron who was stuffing his face obnoxiously with biscuits. As I filled up my plate I answered my mom,

"She was there, she's going to be making me all new ones, the bill should be here somewhere…" I said digging through my pockets, pulling out the tiny blue receipt.

Six Dragonhide pants - **49 Galleons**

Twelve Suede and Dragonhide shirts: assrt. - **87 Galleons**

One Dragonhide Boot Set - **16 Galleons**

_**Total**_:__**0 Galleons**_

I laughed and shook my head as I held out the slip to my mother, she took it and sighed happily, looking up at me.

"You better thank her very much, Charles Weasley, this is very generous and she didn't have to do this. Especially since dragonhide doesn't look like the least expensive material she had available, that's for sure," she said handing the slip back to me. I simply nodded and went back to eating my dinner before it got cold. I thought about Allie. She seemed like such a nice girl, I was skeptical at first because the shop looked like a miniature palace and I had expected her to be some stuck up witch with no sense of humor. However, what I really seen was a brilliant young woman who had humor lingering in her vivid blue eyes, a small smile playing on her lips, and her auburn pulled back into a messy bun, which reflected on her carefree attitude. Her personality radiated confidence and comfort.

Allison also had a huge heart to go along with her carefree attitude, she could have charged me for making those clothes, not that it mattered anyways, I was paid handsomely for being a dragon keeper, even if it was at a great risk on my life, but it was the point that she made with her gesture. Her point was that every deserves a break sometimes, even if it was something as meaningless as money. My mind flashed back to Alexandria, the girl who had broken my heart only three weeks ago. Alexandria was _nothing _like Allison, Alexandria was cruel and self centered, firm and heartless. She had broken up with me because I didn't let her schedule determine my whole life, I didn't revolve around the world of Alexandria and that was a problem for her. I thought of Allison again and it made my hurting subside ever so slightly. She made the pain of losing Alexandria go away, even if it was a small amount, it was better than anyone else attempt and she wasn't even trying.

"Right, Charlie?" I heard Ginny exclaim as everyone roared in laughter,

"Erm, what, Gin?" I asked, holding out my wand so I could counter a hex I was sure was coming. Surprisingly, she skipped the hex and just gave me an annoyed look,

"I was telling them a story about the Quidditch match I played against you, you know, the one where you flew _right _into the Keeper's rings" she was struggling to keep a straight face as the rest of the family roared with laughter once again. I shook my head and smiled,

"_Ha ha_, very funny, you must have left out the part where I beat you _so badly_ it didn't even matter if you would have caught the snitch or not!" I sent my plate floating into the sink, it neatly landed on top of the pile. Defeated, Ginny changed the subject to Harry's upcoming birthday and then Bill and Fleur's wedding, which was to be the next day.

"So what's the first thing you're going to so once you turn seventeen, Harry?" she asked, and he just sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"That's a good question, I really don't know what I'm gonna do." He said and brought his plate into the kitchen, placing it neatly on top of mine. I nodded and then cracked a smile, deciding to change the subject and crack a joke,

"You still thinking about becoming an Auror, Potter? We could use another Dragon Keeper if you're interested in something more exciting" I laughed as three woman's voices spoke up, sounding threatening:

"Nope,"

"Not a chance!"

"Charlie Weasley, you better watch it!"

They all warned, I looked from my mother's reddening face, to Ginny's horrified one, to Hermione's stern look and then I burst out laughing. They all relaxed a bit but chewed me out for even joking about it; I shrugged but apologized, leaving the table to go sit in the livingroom.

As the evening wore on, people started to file out of the living room, leaving only Bill, Fleur, and I basking in the warm, glowing light of the fireplace. Although, they didn't last much longer than anyone else, Fleur's yawing had become more and more frequent and so had Bill's. I shook my head,

"You don't have to stay away Bill, for Merlin's sake, Fleur is going to need some sleep before the wedding! Get her off to bed," I said and eyed Fleur cautiously, she had been trying to stay awake so hard that she had resorted to shifting positions every few seconds to even keep her eyes open a sliver. Bill nodded in almost a comatose state and lead Fleur upstairs, leaving only me… The blazing fire as my company.

I felt myself grow nervous as I checked the time, I would be going to get my clothes in a little over twelve hours and I would get to see Allison again. I wasn't sure I was thinking about her this way because I had _feelings_ for her or if it was just because it was great to have someone so, for the lack of better words, _cool_, to be around. Either way, I found myself excited for the first time in months and that was okay with me. It felt good to be experiencing feelings inside of me that weren't anger, sadness, and the most annoying and ever present emotion of them all, _frustration_.

* * *

I woke up in the morning feeling dazed, I had been up late working on Charlie Weasley's order. Oh no, I didn't mind one bit, but I definitely wouldn't have complained if I could have had a few extra hours of sleep. I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and stood up, groaning as my feet hit the cold wood floor of my flat. I made my way to the kitchen and started some french vanilla coffee, I then walked over to the bay window and fetched the daily paper from the mail owl who was waiting patiently for me.

After having my coffee and finding no one I knew had passed away or gone missing, I decided to get ready for the day and head off to the shop for an early start. I slipped into the warm water of the shower and sigh, basking in the soothing warmth. I dressed in light purple robes with a sparkly clasp and french braided my hair so it wouldn't be falling in my face all day. I quickly dabbed on some makeup and gave myself a once over in the mirror, on a whim, I put on some bright red lipstick and walked out the door before I had a chance to rethink and change my mind. I walked down the stairs and down the Diagon Alley, making it to my shop in a few minutes. I unlocked the front door and went straight to work.

I had been working for two hours before I heard the bell go off, my heart leapt as I hurried to the front of the store. It was Charlie Weasley, standing there in all his glory, wearing khaki pants and a white oxford button down shirt that he filled out very nicely. I rushed to the back and got the stack of clothing,

"Would you like it wrapped or…?" I asked, trailing off,

"They're nothing too special, you can just put them in a bag. They'll be ruined in about two months anyways," he laughed quietly and looked around, his eyes finally resting on my lips. I tried hard not to smile but he caught me, "what're you smiling at?" he asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously in the light of the chandelier; I shrugged and let out a small laugh,

"Oh, I just am" I laughed again and continued to fold his clothes and place them in the bag. He watched me in silence for a few moments and then took a breath,

"Since these are free of charge and I would feel terribly guilty if I didn't pay you anything… I was wondering if you wanted to grab a butterbeer or firewhiskey at the Leaky Cauldron? I know it's a risk but you know what they say, what's life without risk, anyways?" he asked and ruffled his hair a little, looking nervous as all hell.

"Why, Mr. Weasley, are you asking me on a _date?_" I asked politely, smile playing on my lips, he looked taken aback but then relaxed and shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess that's _exactly_ what I'm doing"

"My lunch break starts in an hour" I said and winked, sliding the bag of clothes over to him and walking into the back room.


	2. Chapter 2

The hour before my lunch break was a busy one, the shop was full to the brim of students who were going back to school from summer break. The Ministry was also having a formal gathering, so the shop was also seeing its fair share of Ministry officials as well. Despite needing my every last ounce of attention focused on the jobs at hand, I couldn't help but peek at the clock every few minutes. I couldn't lie, I was very excited to be going out for drinks with Charlie, he was a very charming guy. At about five minutes to noon, the shop cleared out, leaving a disaster zone of materials, pins, and tape measures strewn across the floor and chairs. I got to work quickly picking them up and throwing them away in the rubbish bin, the bell chimed, signaling the arrival of my mother, who would be relieving me of my duties for an hour and a half.

"Had a busy hour?" my mother piped up, sitting in the chair at the front desk. I shrugged, standing up and taking the stray tape measures to their rightful place in the sewing drawers.

"I sold plenty of Hogwarts robes, a few kids from Beauxbatons came in, and a bunch of Ministry employees, all of which had terrible taste in clothing, came around looking for formal robes. I'd say I had quite the good hour. If it's dead the rest of the day, it'll be okay with me" I explained and gave her my good tape measure, "Have fun," I said and beat a hasty path out of the shop.

Once outside, I check my appearance in the window of an empty shop. Some of the places looked worse than others, this one looked like it had just been abandoned, nothing was broken or damaged. I personally was hoping an ice cream shop would open up next to my store after the war ended. So far nothing had happened, but that was to be expected, we were just entering the climax of the war, people were still going into hiding. I took a seat on one of the chairs I had placed outside of my shop for the men who were accompanying their ladies on shopping days, funny enough, these chairs where used the most and, like I predicted, used mostly by men who didn't want to spend hours in a seamstress' shop. I found this quite amusing. I glanced down at my watch, it had only been three minutes since I had stepped out of the shop, I was starting to get worried. I didn't want to be stood up, Merlin, that would be horrible. I would hope Charlie wasn't like that, but then again, he was of the male gender and sometimes they didn't get the best reputation when it came to stuff like that. I decided that I would give him another five minutes and then I would head down to the quiet tea shop down the alley and get lunch for myself, maybe do some shopping too.

Barely a minute after I had decided what my plan of action was, I could see Charlie Weasley walking down the street, hands in his pockets. He had changed into black boot cut jeans and a black button down shirt, he looked quite suave and very, very sexy. I could see large burn scars and cuts marking his arms but that only added mystery to the man, making him even more attractive in every female's opinion. I looked down at my robes and shrugged, I didn't have time to change so he would have to deal with this.

"Miss Easton," Charlie said and smiled crookedly at me,

"Hi," I said, shyness washing over me like a rather large ocean wave.

"May I escort you to the pub, love?" he asked, winking at me and chuckling. He held out his arm for me to take,

"You may," I giggled and graciously looped my arm through his. I shocked myself, it had been years since I had giggled like that.

* * *

Even a block away, Allie had already taken my breath away. Her lilac colored robes complimented her soft, flawless olive toned skin and her long hair, which was much longer than I expected it to be, was braided out of her face in a loose braid. I swallowed thickly and waved to her, making sure she knew of my presence. She looked down at her robes uncertainly and then looked back up at me, giving me a once over. Then it was my turn to nervously think about what I had chosen to wear, Bill said girls like tall, dark and handsome and since I didn't have the dark hair going on, he suggested that I wear black. I hoped he was right.

"Miss Easton," I said in an extremely over the top polite voice,

"Hi," she said, her voice not nearly as confident as she sounded yesterday.

"May I escort you to the pub, love?" I asked in the same, overly polite voice,

"You may," she answered and then giggled, the sound of her laugh made my heart skip a beat. It was probably the most pure, beautiful sound in the world, it suited her perfectly.

Arm in arm, we walked hurriedly down the street in silence. Nothing suspicious had happened in Diagon Alley in quite some time but I personally didn't want to take a leisurely stroll through the alley in a time like this. It was best to hurry along and mind your own business rather than linger and get caught in the middle of something you didn't want a part of. Adding to my anxiety was Allie, if something were to happen to her on my watch I wouldn't be able to handle it. We reached the Leaky Cauldron and ducked inside, taking a seat at a table in the very far corner away from the bar. There were more people in the pub today than I had seen in a long while, this was probably due somewhat to the lag in Death Eater activity. People had to count their blessing where they could and while they could. Things were going to get much worse very fast. Tom, the owner, walked over to us, looking happier than I had seen him in a while.

"What'll it be for you two?" he asked, looking down happily at us.

"I'll have a tall fire whiskey," I said and looked at Allie,

"I'll have a butterbeer for now" she nodded and thanked Tom as he headed towards the bar. Silence fell between us for a few moments before I found my voice again.

"So, how was the rest of your morning?" I asked, Allie looked tired and I supposed she was getting the back to school rush of kids needing robes hemmed or just completely new sets.

"Ugh," she groaned and played with her braid, "honestly, I could go without seeing another kid for a whole year. I'm glad they're all back to school on the first of the month. I know, I shouldn't be like that but seriously, I can't deal with them anymore" she shook her head and took a large gulp of the butterbeer that Tom had just set down in front of her, I took a sip from my glass as well.

"The worst are the parents though," I replied, remembering vividly that my mum wasn't a walk in the park when getting us our robes.

"I couldn't agree more"

"Just be glad you won't have to deal with my mother, she's a nightmare when she's shopping"

"I'm sure she's a great woman!" Allie exclaimed and gave me a gentle slap on the hand. This small moment of contact made my pulse race, I took another sip of whiskey and chuckled. "The Ministry is must be having some sort of gathering because I had tons of officials come in looking for something nice to wear, they all have putrid style choices. Pea green isn't something anyone should wear… ever. It's a travesty"

"I wonder what the ministry is up to," I commented and made a mental note to tell dad about it. He would be able to get some information about it from someone he worked with.

"I don't know but whatever it is, they're all going to look completely embarrassing" Allie sighed, taking another swig of butterbeer.

"Why do you order the color if you hate it so much?" I asked, honestly curious about her reasoning. She gave me an incredulous look from over the rim of her glass,

"It happens to be a very popular color, unfortunately." This comment made me burst out laughing, it was the look on her face that was funnier than what she said. She honestly look horrified.

Silence again blanketed us while we drank, it wasn't uncomfortable or weird, it was nice. We took turns sneaking glances at each other while the other looked away, it made me feel like I was back at Hogwarts but in a good way, if there was one.

"So, tell me about Charlie Weasley. What are you doing back in the London area?" Allie asked after a few more moments of silence passed. I finished off my fire whiskey while thinking of a good way to answer that question.

"My brother is getting married and I've been going through some personal issues, so I thought it was a good time to spend some time at home with the family," I said,

"Do you miss Romania?" she asked quietly,

"Not nearly as much as I usually do," I admitted, thinking back to the small apartment I shared with my best mate. Maybe the Bachelor life was starting to seem like it wasn't all it was cracked up to be at first. Sure, I had dated Alexandria but it wasn't like she had been faithful and I sure as hell hadn't been towards the end. Not that I was proud to have cheated on her, no matter what she had done to push me to that point.

"Who's your brother?" She asked, changing the subject, having clearly had felt the mood change.

"His name is Bill, he's getting married to an overly exuberant French woman by the name of Fleur" I said honestly. It's not like I didn't get along with Fleur, it's just that she was so… Extravagant, compared to how us Weasley's lived. And maybe that's what he liked in Fleur, she was something different.

"Who are you taking?" she asked, looking innocently up from her drink.

"Me? No one. I didn't have time to plan a date, I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it down for the wedding, actually" I said, trying to justify not bringing anyone. Allie had gone quite, finishing off her butterbeer and looking down at her watch. "You know, if you felt up to it, I would love to have _you_ accompany me" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"I would love to… You know, _just as friends_. We don't want your family thinking you're just dating someone random for the wedding now, do we?" she smirked and looked up at me, her bright blue eyes shining.

"Great, yeah, as friends" I said, feeling a little bit hurt realizing that she was serious about just going as friends. I tried not to take it personally though, we both were fully aware that I would have to go back to Romania sooner rather than later and there was nothing that could stop that from happening.

"Blimey, I'd better get back to the shop, it's already been a little over an hour!" Allie exclaimed as she peeked down at her watch again, "Escort me back?" she asked and I nodded, taking her hand in mine and walking to the door.

* * *

Charlie escorted me right to the door of the shop and gave me a quick peck on the cheek which made me blush deeply. The touch of his lips upon my skin was so exhilarating I thought that he might be able to hear my heart pounding against my ribcage. My skin tingled and my palms became sweaty as he gazed into my eyes. _No_, I thought to myself, _you cannot have feelings for him! He's going back to Romania after his brother's wedding and that will be the end of this little romance._

"So, I'll pick you up right here, tomorrow at six o'clock sharp?" He asked, looking at me, nerves clearly visible in his eyes. I nodded,

"Sure, what should I wear?"

"Something really dressy, it's fully formal. I'm going to be wearing black dress robes, so as long as it doesn't 'clash 'orribly', as Fleur would say, with my hair, it's up to you"

"Okay, I'll surprise you, then" I winked and swallowed thickly, "I had a great time, Charlie, thank you for taking me out"

"Anything for a pretty lady," he replied and winked back at me, sending the butterflies in my stomach into a tizzy.

"I'd best get back to work, I'll see you tomorrow at six?" I asked, confirming the time and day.

"I'll be the one in black," He laughed and kissed me once more, this time on the top of my hand, before waving goodbye and disapparating on the spot.

The rest of the day went quite slowly, I made the decision to close the shop tomorrow and spend the day getting ready. My mother, of course, didn't like this idea in the slightest. She kept reminding me how she would never close down the shop for a wedding that didn't even start until six o'clock. I ignored her, something that was becoming far too easy to do as of late. I had also decided that I would be making a new dress for myself to wear to the occasion, I would be meeting at lot of people I didn't know and I wanted to make a good first impression. Even if this would be one of the last times I saw Charlie Weasley, I still wanted to make a lasting impression. After going through all of the colors of fabric I had available, I had decided on a deep plum color for my dress; accented by my favorite pair of black heels. I also made the executive decision to wear my hair down, which rarely ever happened. By the time I closed the shop, I had decided on every single detail of my outfit for tomorrow. The only thing I hadn't decided on was how I was going to do my makeup, which really wasn't an issue since I normally just dabbed on some mascara and blushed and called it a day.

I fell asleep easily that night, the combination of a busy day in the shop and lunch with Charlie had made me exhausted. Before I fell asleep I caught myself thinking about Charlie in a nice set of dress robes, my heart started to beat faster and I felt my body tense up, I didn't know what was happening, all I knew was that there was something more going on between Charlie and I than we both cared to admit to and it scared the shit out of me.

* * *

After I arrived back at the Burrow, I went straight out to the Quidditch pitch behind the house and worked out some of the pent up emotions I had stored within me. It was absolutely infuriating that I was feeling like this, so aroused by just being around someone. I looked angrily down at the bulge in my pants and took off into the air, whipping the quaffle with as much force as I could, straight into the makeshift goal posts that we had set up years ago.

"Oi, it's not the post's fault that you're angry. Blimey, what's gotten into you? You were fine this morning!" Bill called from the ground. I looked down at him and then flew slowly to the ground,

"I'm afraid of getting caught up in something that I might not be able to get myself out of," I said, trying not to hint at anything in particular.

"Avoid it, you're Charlie Weasley, you can avoid basically anything, trust me, I've seen it" Bill smirked.

"I don't think I can get away from this,"

"Ah, we're talking about a problem consisting of someone of the female gender, are we not?" Bill inquired, looking at me for confirmation. I just grunted and clutched the quaffle harder. "Is it Alexandria or someone else?"

"Someone I just met… And don't tell me that I can just walk away from her because this… This is different. I don't know what it is about her but she's bloody spectacular. She's got everything, the body, the personality, the whole package. And here I am, getting ready to go back to Romania and leave that behind." I scoffed, "They say dragon keeping is the hardest job in the world, I agree, but it's not the dragons that make it so hard. It's leaving everything behind, _that's_ what's hard"

"You can get married, have kids, the whole nine yards, can't you?" Bill asked, a look of concern crossed his face.

"'Course I can, that doesn't mean I _should_. I could go back to work tomorrow and die within five minutes of being in the enclosures. What kind of husband and father would that make me? I can't be responsible for someone other than myself, it just wouldn't work out."

"Who says it can't work out?" Bill pushed back, looking slightly pissed off. "You're a prat if you think for one minute that other people in your position haven't made it work,"

"Those are the people who get distracted, Bill! And the ones that get distracted are the ones who die. Mad-Eye's 'constant vigilance' saying doesn't just apply to what's happening in the war, it applies to _any_ dangerous job" I shouted angrily at him, not feeling bad in the slightest. Bill and I were used to shouting at each other, venting to one another had become so normal it hadn't bothered me for quite some times.

"Yeah, but Charlie, this isn't just about what you want and what you think you can and cannot do. I'm assuming this girl you met is able to think clearly on her own?"

"Of course she can!" I snapped at him and he held up his hands,

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, I'm just saying, you need to make sure she's having her input on the situation as well! You're both adults, you need to communicate," Bill said, trying to sound calm and collected. "If you two are on the same page about things, it will work out. Things have a strange way of working out in the end. I mean look at me and Fleur, I work in Egypt and she'll be in London, I just apparate or Floo home every night."

"Yeah, but you also took a desk job, which is how you two met. She doesn't know how it's going to be once you go back to curse breaking in Egypt." I said stubbornly,

"If you love someone, it doesn't matter the circumstance" Bill said, patted me on my shoulder, and walked back toward the house. Leaving me even more confused and angry than I was before our talk.


End file.
